2011 J. Lohr Arroyo Vista Chardonnay

VINTAGE
2011 was one of the coldest vintages of the last decade, and combined with a very late cold spell in early April, turned out to be one of the longest growing seasons of the last twenty years. We had a mere 15 days over 90°F the entire growing season, but with the light yields the season provided enough warmth to fully ripen the Arroyo Vista Chardonnay. The last fruit was hand-harvested under lights on the 3rd of November, and was outstanding, with ripe stone and tropical fruit flavors at 24.5° Brix with 7.0 grams per liter of acid - perfectly balanced!

VINEYARDS
Our J. Lohr Arroyo Vista Chardonnay is grown in the heart of the windswept and cool Arroyo Seco AVA of Monterey County. Loamy sand and gravelly loam soils of the Elder series are intermixed and underlain by “Greenfield potatoes” - stones that resemble potatoes in size and appearance and which absorb heat during the day and radiate it after sunset. This underlayment of stone effectively limits root growth to the top three to five feet of soil, harmoniously balancing the fruit and shoot growth of our richly flavored Chardonnay.